Loughborough Online Reading List System
GetStructuralUnit
NAME
GetStructuralUnit - LUMP CGI XML API to return the contents of a
Structural Unit (and its children).
DESCRIPTION
The GetStructuralUnit CGI script is designed to allow Structural Units
held in a LUMP database to be returned in an XML container format. The
script can return a tree of Structural Units to an arbitrary depth
rooted at a particular Structural Unit specified by its ID.
PARAMETERS
Standard
*username* - Name of user running this CGI script. Required unless web
server authentication is in use (when it is, the web server
authenticated user is used instead).
*password* - Password for the user. This is only required if the web
server is not handling the user authentication and if no security hash
parameter is being given.
*security_hash* - An opaque value used to authenticate the user without
requiring the password to be sent. This value is generated by a previous
execution of a LUMP API script and may well be time limited. It is only
required if no password or webserver authentication is done.
*act_as* - Users in the SysAdmins group can elect to act on the behalf
of other users once they are themselves authenticated. If this parameter
is present it should contain the username of the user that should be
switched to if this option is available and the real user has been
authenticated successfully. Optional.
*session_id* - An opaque string as far as the server is concerned that
is intended solely to allow async clients to differentiate different
results more easily. Optional.
Specific for this script
*suid* - ID of the root Structural Unit for the tree that should be
returned.
*format* - Name of display format to render the results with. If not
specified, XML is returned.
*levels* - Specify how many levels down to go from the given Structural
Unit ID when expanding child Structural Units. By default no levels are
descended. If a level of 1 given, all the child Structural Units of the
specified Structural Unit will be returned as well. For 2, their child
will be included, and so on. Asking for more levels than there actually
are children is not considered to be an error (you just get the whole
Structural Unit tree rooted at the Structural Unit with the given ID).
*ignore* - Specifies a comma separated list of Structural Unit Type
names which indicate Structural Units that should be ignored in the
output.
*include_deleted* - By default deleted Structural Units are ignored -
setting this flag to 'Y' indicates that they should be included.
*sort* - Provides sorting instructions. If specified it is a list
separated by vertical bar ("|") characters where each list item is pair
giving Structrual Unit Type name and Data Type name. The Structural Unit
Type name can be given as '*', which applies to child Structural Units
of any Structural Unit Type that doesn't have an explicit entry. These
are used to find Data Element values which are then used in the
comparison. For example, imagine you want to sort on the "Title" Data
Elements in Book and Journal Article child Structural Units, the
"Journal Title" in Journal child Structural Units and the "Name" in any
other child Structural Units, you'd specify the sort parameters as
"Book.Title|Journal Article.Title|Journal.Journal Title|*.Name". Note
that child Structural Units that don't match any of the Data Types given
(in this example ones that aren't using named Structural Unit Types and
don't have any Data Elements of a Data Type called "Name") are left
alone by the sort routine. This means that you can, for example, leave
Notes interspersed in lists of Books, Journals, etc and just sort the
little groups of Books, Journals, etc by title without affecting the
order of the Notes. Also note the sorting criteria are case sensitive
and have to match the case for Structural Unit Type and Data Type names.
*sutsort* - Provides an ordering for Structural Unit Type names to be
used in the output. This is applied after any Data Element based
*sort*ing has been done. This parameter is a comma separated list of
Structural Unit Type names - child Structural Units are then sorted into
this order. If a Structural Unit is of a Structural Unit Type not given
in this list it sent to the end of the list.
RESULTS
The script returns an XML document in the standard LUMP response format
(as documented in LUMP-XML-Response). The <returns> section's contents
depends on the display format requested with the *format* parameter in
the request. If this is specified (and isn't "XML") the <returns>
element will contain a <rendered> element that contains the Structural
Unit(s) rendered using the appropriated display format module(s). This
means that in this case the value of the <rendered> element can often be
transmitted straight into an output stream, DOM element, etc.
The <returns> element also contains the XML structure following this DTD
fragment:
<!ELEMENT returns (su|rendered)>
<!ELEMENT rendered (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT su (children|id|structural_unit_type_id|state|deleted|data+)>
<!ELEMENT children (su+)>
<!ELEMENT structural_unit_type_id (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT id (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT state (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT deleted (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT data (data_type|data_element)
<!ELEMENT data_element (id|value|modified_time)>
<!ELEMENT data_type (id|name|edit_representation|default_value|
validation_pattern|repeatable|size)>
<!ELEMENT value (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT edit_representation (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT validation_pattern (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT repeatable (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT name (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT size (#PCDATA)>
For example:
<response>
<returns>
<su>
<children>
<su>
<id>350</id>
<state>published</state>
<deleted>N</deleted>
</su>
</children>
<data>
<data_type>
<validation_pattern></validation_pattern>
<edit_representation>input text</edit_representation>
<name>Year</name>
<id>23</id>
<repeatable>N</repeatable>
<size>4</size>
</data_type>
<data_element>
<value>2006</value>
<id>1332</id>
</data_element>
</data>
<data>
<data_type>
<validation_pattern></validation_pattern>
<edit_representation>input text</edit_representation>
<name>Semester</name>
<id>24</id>
<repeatable>N</repeatable>
<size>100</size>
</data_type>
<data_element>
<value></value>
<id>1333</id>
</data_element>
</data>
<data>
<data_type>
<validation_pattern></validation_pattern>
<edit_representation>input text</edit_representation>
<name>Module Name</name>
<id>25</id>
<repeatable>N</repeatable>
<size>100</size>
</data_type>
<data_element>
<value>Advanced Human-Computer Integration</value>
<id>1334</id>
</data_element>
</data>
<data>
<data_type>
<validation_pattern></validation_pattern>
<edit_representation>input text</edit_representation>
<name>Student Numbers</name>
<id>27</id>
<repeatable>N</repeatable>
<size>10</size>
</data_type>
<data_element>
<value>0</value>
<id>1335</id>
</data_element>
</data>
<data>
<data_type>
<validation_pattern>dd[A-Z][A-Z][ABCPX]ddd</validation_pattern>
<edit_representation>input text</edit_representation>
<name>Module Code</name>
<id>28</id>
<repeatable>N</repeatable>
<size>10</size>
</data_type>
<data_element>
<value>06COC171</value>
<id>1336</id>
</data_element>
</data>
<data>
<data_type>
<validation_pattern></validation_pattern>
<edit_representation>input text</edit_representation>
<name>Module Tutor</name>
<id>26</id>
<repeatable>Y</repeatable>
<size>100</size>
</data_type>
<data_element>
<value>Professor R S Kalawsky</value>
<id>1339</id>
</data_element>
</data>
<id>350</id>
</su>
</returns>
<session>
<security_hash>1248086710:a615619fd3d278c8a15154afade9ccec</security_hash>
<lump_version>1</lump_version>
<acting_as></acting_as>
</session>
<error>
<error_message>Success</error_message>
<error_code>SUCCESS</error_code>
</error>
</response>
The <error> section contains SUCCESS in the <error_code> if the
operation finishes successfully, or a failure error code if it doesn't.
The <error_message> element contains a human readable message that can
be used to inform the user of problems if desired.
SEE ALSO
FindSuid
LUMP-XML-Response
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2009 Loughborough University Library <library@lboro.ac.uk>.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
Texts.